How much of your memories of your friendship with Wes Montgomery are with you, and how much are you still rebuilding?

I remember flashes, quite a bit of them. I remember all the music I had an interest in because of those records I kept. The flashes I remember were in the President Hotel in NYC, of being in Wes Montgomery's room and sitting on the floor as a teenager, listening to him play. One of the things I'll always remember is asking Wes, "What was that you just played?" and him saying, "I don't think of music that way. I don't have any names for it." I remember several things of that nature. I also remember introducing Les Paul to Wes Montgomery, maybe 1963. We stood on the corner of 133rd Street and 7th Avenue, Wes Montgomery and myself, Les Paul, George Benson and Grant Green. Just talking and throwing ideas at each other and just laughing ourselves to death at the end of the night and going out after that for breakfast. These are the things I remember about Wes. The music itself, in a sense is very selfish on my behalf, because the music I chose to perform in this tribute are some of my favorites. Some of the things that really caused me to learn from that man.

Can you tell me what some of those pieces are?

Oh, sure, I'd be happy to. We'll be playing "Groove Yard," "Four on Six," "Heartstrings," "West Coast Blues," "Twisted Blues," "Full House," "Just for Now," "Road Song," and "Besame Mucho," among others.

Have you gone back and listened to some of your own early LPs? I'm thinking particularly of Footprints, from 1972 which was dedicated to Wes Montgomery.

Believe it or not, I haven't. When it comes to my records, I have a tendency of never looking back. I see them as photographs or catalogues, a collection of photos.

Do you think there are images or memories of Wes that you might not have now in your conscious memory—would they be embedded in your playing even if you can't remember them consciously?

I think it's embedded in my playing, in terms of my choice of color, my choice of expression in terms of the dynamics that I use. A lot of that has become innate, and it stems from a very deep enjoyment of what really became, most of all, important to me in the earliest years of my life. And, of all of the things that I think were influential, in my case, more than the songs, more than the records, more than Wes' success, in terms of his career, what affected me most was his warmth as a human being. That really affected me and that stood out from the age of 12 when I first met him.

As something that made you feel good about music?

Made me feel good about being in the presence of a wonderful human being.

Why do you feel Wes Montgomery is so important to jazz in general, in terms of his stylistic accomplishments?

Wes Montgomery was, is, and always will be one of the greatest innovators in jazz, when it comes to that particular instrument. He's part of the history of music, the history of that idiom, the history of the guitar, as well, in terms of the improvisation.

Can you articulate at all what those innovations were?

Innovations in the sense of ingenuity. Most of all, ingenuity. Being in a situation with six children at the given time when he decided to do this, and to be working during the day, and in the evening, when the family was asleep, to begin to practice with his thumb, so he wouldn't wake them up, was very ingenious. In that way, out poured an identity that was embodied with compassion. And it could be heard in his music.

And he used that circumstance, which brought him to a creative level that he might have taken a longer time to reach otherwise, I suppose.

It seems so. And I also think that the shape of the total result would have been a little bit different. It would have been a little bit more rigid than as warm as it became in terms of the natural nature of his expressions.

You both were self-taught. You've said that's been an inspiration to you, as well.

I think so. There's something about the drop-out. You had in both situations value that cannot be judged. You have the graduate, who is automatically respected, and you have the drop-out, who moves in directions that are different to all others. The end result is innovations. That produces the same type of result. Because of this they both stand on equal ground. You see them from the third point of view, you then see the presence of polarity, and the necessity of both of these being seen as what they truly are to one another.

It occurred to me that there's also a polarity to the idea of a tribute concert. You're channeling Wes to a certain extent, or at least thinking of him as you prepare, but still playing as you.

Absolutely.

So it seems to me that there would be a polarity there that has to be resolved in different ways than if you were performing your own pieces without thinking of it as a Wes Montgomery tribute. Do you agree there's a different way of approaching the performances?

Absolutely. I think there's an irony in this. And the irony is that age has brought about a state of mind for me, that sees it and distinctively defines it with a meaning that I never could have been achieved before. If I had done this, which I wanted to do when I was so much younger, when I was following Wes Montgomery as an idol, I would have been hampered, worried about whether or not I could carry it off successfully. But these sorts of concerns are not why I'm doing this tribute now. 

The reason I'm doing it now is to participate in something I truly enjoyed when I was a lot younger. Something that I really could not express as compassionately then as I can at this age. Now I can do this and, to me, it's part of my life, a reminder of all the things I loved the most when I was learning to play guitar. At that time, I didn't know how to do these things the way I do now. It's second nature to me now. The music itself is really tickling. It's bringing me back to a very childish relationship, which is a beautiful, beautiful feeling.

How do you feel your relationship with Wes Montgomery and with his music has evolved over the years and considering what you've been through.

In the earlier years, I had specific priorities. Most of all, in a general context, they all fit within the context of guitaristics. It was difficult for me to see beyond those boundaries, beyond those margins. Throughout the years, until this day and right now, I have an interest in so many different forms of music and so many different forms of artistry, that back then I would have been inhibited by the feeling that I was thinking about too many things all at once. I would not have been able to achieve the relationship I have with the instrument, as second nature as it is now. At this point, this very interest in all of these things around me, brings back a specific meaning to the enjoyment that I have in participating in this tribute. The core of that is my love of Wes, itself. I can't tell you how good it feels to me to be able to do this.

A freelance writer and former jazz radio producer for WWNO in New Orleans, Jerry Karp provides copywriting services for artists and arts-related businesses through his business, Rocket Words (www.rocketwords.com).